The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s electricity pledge, insisting that recent public commentary has quoted the promise without its concluding qualification.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson, Dele Alake, the campaign council said Tinubu’s remarks at a meeting with the Organised Private Sector in Lagos ahead of the 2023 general elections must be considered in full context.
According to the statement, Tinubu had promised to tackle the systemic problems in Nigeria’s power sector and end estimated billing, saying: “Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore. A promise made will be a promise kept. If I don’t keep the promise and I come for a second term, don’t vote for me, unless I give you adequate reasons why I couldn’t deliver.
The APC campaign council said some recent commentary reproduced the pledge “without its concluding qualification: that should he fall short, he would owe Nigerians an adequate explanation before seeking their support for a second term.”
It argued that a fair assessment should compare the full statement with the administration’s record since 2023, including measurable improvements in electricity supply, metering, infrastructure and market stability.
The statement listed the signing of the Electricity Act, 2023 within two weeks of Tinubu assuming office, saying the law liberalised and deregulated the power sector and allowed states to participate in generation, distribution and transmission. It said Lagos, Enugu, Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Kaduna and Niger had started setting up their own electricity regulatory agencies under the law.
It also cited the Presidential Metering Initiative, saying over 1.5 million customers had been metered in the last three years as part of efforts to close a metering gap of more than seven million.
The campaign council said the administration had taken on over N6 trillion in legacy debt accumulated from 2015 to 2025 and created a N4 trillion bond programme to settle verified legacy debts owed to 21 power generating companies and gas companies. It said the first and second tranches had raised over N1.2 trillion.
It further cited tariff alignment and Service Bands to improve liquidity while protecting low-income households, solar power connections by the Rural Electrification Agency to universities, hospitals and rural communities, plans to modernise the Osogbo Grid Control Centre and build an East-West super grid.
On the Presidential Power Initiative inherited from the Buhari administration, the statement said Tinubu signed an Acceleration Agreement in December 2023, while the Federal Executive Council approved the first batch of five TCN substations by December 2024 and, in June 2026, approved a second batch of eight new substations and the upgrade of four existing ones.
The campaign council said fixing the power sector remains ongoing work but insisted that Tinubu “has not deviated an inch from his commitment.
It said the President will present his scorecard in the power sector and clearly tell Nigerians what remains to be done as he seeks a second term.